Silverman Saw Film`s End As Springboard For Series

January 25, 1988|By KAY GARDELLA, New York Daily News

The reason that producer Fred Silverman decided to do a TV series for NBC based on the 1967 Oscar-winning film, In the Heat of the Night, is simply, he said, because ``it happened to be one of my favorite films.``

``There`s a terrific relationship between the two men (a Southern sheriff and a big-city detective). I felt the end of the picture at the railroad station wasn`t the end of the piece, that that scene with the two of them could serve as a springboard for the beginning of a series of adventures. That`s how the project was born.``

But Silverman and his co-executive producer, Juanita Bartlett, who have cast Carroll O`Connor as the sheriff and Howard Rollins as Detective Tibbs, have updated the series to present day, rather than keep is set in the mid-`60s as the film was.

In the series, which NBC is likely to premiere about mid-March, Tibbs returns to the South with his wife (played by Anne-Marie Johnson) after his mother has died. He meets the sheriff again and gets involved in a murder case.

In this 1988 version, Silverman wisely has decided not to hit the racial theme as heavily as the film did, because it would paint an unfair picture, things having changed a great deal between 1967 and today. Which is not to say there still wouldn`t be tension between the two characters.

``There are a lot of points of contrast other than race,`` Silverman said. ``One is big city, the other is small town. One has a very scientific way of looking at things. The other goes by his gut. One practices a very personal kind of law enforcement. The other is very much by the book. One is highly disorganized. The other is meticulous. And one has a sense of humor, the other is uptight.``

Silverman wants everyone to know this is ``not a remake, but a sequel, like M*A*S*H. What we are doing here is, first and foremost, creating an entertainment piece, a character drama, with a crime background. These people are law enforcement officials and they`re going to get involved in the solution of crimes.``